55-79.94 - Conversion condominiums; special provisions.
§ 55-79.94. Conversion condominiums; special provisions.
A. Any declarant of a conversion condominium shall include in his publicoffering statement in addition to the requirements of § 55-79.90 thefollowing:
1. A specific statement of the amount of any initial or special condominiumfee due from the purchaser on or before settlement of the purchase contractand the basis of such fee;
2. Information on the actual expenditures made on all repairs, maintenance,operation or upkeep of the subject building or buildings within the lastthree years, set forth tabularly with the proposed budget of the condominium,and cumulatively broken down on a per unit basis in proportion to therelative voting strengths allocated to the units by the bylaws. If suchbuilding or buildings have not been occupied for a period of three years,then the information shall be set forth for the maximum period such buildingor buildings have been occupied;
3. A description of any provisions made in the budget for reserves forcapital expenditures and an explanation of the basis for such reserves, or,if no provision is made for such reserves, a statement to that effect;
4. A statement of the declarant as to the present condition of all structuralcomponents and major utility installations in the condominium, whichstatement shall include the approximate dates of construction, installation,and major repairs, and the expected useful life of each such item, togetherwith the estimated cost (in current dollars) of replacing each of the same;
5. If any building included or that may be included in the condominium wassubstantially completed prior to July 1, 1978, a statement that each suchbuilding has been inspected for asbestos in accordance with standards ineffect at the time of inspection; or that an asbestos inspection will beconducted; and whether asbestos requiring response actions has been found,and if found, that response actions have been or will be completed inaccordance with applicable standards prior to the conveyance of any unit insuch building. Any asbestos management program or response action undertakenby the building owner shall comply with the standards promulgated pursuant to§ 2.2-1164.
B. In the case of a conversion condominium, the declarant shall give at thetime specified in subsection C of this section, formal notice to each of thetenants of the building or buildings which the declarant has submitted orintends to submit to the provisions of this chapter. This notice shall adviseeach tenant of (i) the offering price of the unit he occupies, (ii) theprojected common expense assessments against that unit for at least the firstyear of the condominium's operation, (iii) any relocation services orassistance, public or private, of which the declarant is aware, (iv) anymeasures taken or to be taken by the declarant to reduce the incidence oftenant dislocation, and (v) the details of the relocation plan, if any isprovided by the declarant, to assist tenants in relocating. During the firstsixty days after such notice is mailed or hand delivered, each of the saidtenants shall have the exclusive right to purchase the unit he occupies, butonly if such unit is to be retained in the conversion condominium withoutsubstantial alteration in its physical layout. If the conversion condominiumis subject to local ordinances that have been adopted pursuant to subsectionsF and G, any tenant who is disabled or elderly may assign the exclusive rightto purchase his unit to a government agency, housing authority, or certifiednonprofit housing corporation, which shall then offer the tenant a lease atan affordable rent, following the provisions of subsection F. The acquisitionof such units by the governmental agency, housing authority, or certifiednonprofit housing corporation shall not (i) exceed the greater of one unit orfive percent of the total number of units in the condominium or (ii) impedethe condominium conversion process. In determining which, if any, units shallbe acquired pursuant to this subsection, preference shall be given to elderlyor disabled tenants.
The notice required above shall be hand delivered or sent by first-classmail, return receipt requested, and shall inform the tenants of theconversion to condominium. Such notice may also constitute the notice toterminate the tenancy as provided for in § 55-222, except that, despite theprovisions of § 55-222, a tenancy from month to month may only be terminatedupon 120 days' notice when such termination is in regard to the creation of aconversion condominium. If, however, a tenant so notified remains inpossession of the unit he occupies after the expiration of the 120-day periodwith the permission of the declarant, in order to then terminate the tenancy,such declarant shall give the tenant a further notice as provided in §55-222. Until the expiration of the 120-day period, the declarant shall haveno right of access to the unit except as provided by subsection A of §55-248.18 and except that, upon 45 days' written notice to the tenant, thedeclarant may enter the unit in order to make additional repairs,decorations, alterations or improvements, provided (i) the making of the samedoes not constitute an actual or constructive eviction of the tenant; and(ii) such entry is made either with the consent of the tenant or only attimes when the tenant is absent from the unit. The declarant shall alsoprovide general notice to the tenants of the condominium or proposedcondominium at the time of application to the agency in addition to theformal notice required by this subsection.
C. The declarant of a conversion condominium shall, in addition to therequirements of § 55-79.89, include with the application for registration acopy of the formal notice set forth in subsection B and a certified statementthat such notice, fully complying with the provisions of subsection B, shallbe, at the time of the registration of such condominium, mailed or deliveredto each of the tenants in the building or buildings for which registration issought. The price and projected common expense assessments for each unit neednot be filed with the agency until such notice is mailed to the tenants.
D. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 55-79.40 of this chapter, in the caseof any conversion condominium created under the provisions of the HorizontalProperty Act (§ 55-79.1 et seq.) for which a final report has not been issuedby the agency pursuant to § 55-79.21 prior to June 1, 1975, the provisions ofsubsections A and B of this section shall apply and the declarant shall berequired to furnish evidence of full compliance with subsections A and Bprior to the issuance by the agency of a final report for such conversioncondominium.
E. Any county, city or town may require by ordinance that the declarant of aconversion condominium file with that governing body all information which isrequired by the agency pursuant to § 55-79.89 and a copy of the formal noticerequired by subsection B. Such information shall be filed with that governingbody when the application for registration is filed with the agency, and suchcopy of the formal notice shall be filed with that governing body. Thereshall be no fees for such filings.
F. The governing body of any county, city or town may enact an ordinancerequiring that elderly or disabled tenants occupying as their residence, atthe time of issuance of the general notice required by subsection B,apartments or units in a conversion condominium be offered leases orextensions of leases on the apartments or units they then occupied, or onother apartments or units of at least equal size and overall quality. Theterms and conditions thereof shall be as agreed upon by the lessor and thelessee, provided that the rent for such apartment or unit shall not be inexcess of reasonable rent for comparable apartments or units in the samemarket area as such conversion condominium and such lease shall include orincorporate by reference the bylaws and/or rules and regulations, if any, ofthe association. No such ordinance may require that such leases or extensionsbe offered on more than twenty percent of the apartments or units in suchconversion condominium, nor may any such ordinance require that such leasesor extensions extend beyond three years from the date of such notice. Suchleases or extensions shall not be required, however, in the case of anyapartments or units which will, in the course of the conversion, besubstantially altered in the physical layout, restricted exclusively tononresidential use, or be converted in such a manner as to require relocationof the tenant in premises outside of the project being converted.
For the purposes of this section:
"Affordable rent" means a monthly rent that does not exceed the greater of30 percent of the annual gross income of the tenant household or 30 percentof the imputed income limit applicable to such unit size, as published by theVirginia Housing Development Authority for compliance with the Low IncomeHousing Tax Credit program.
"Certified nonprofit housing corporation" means a nonprofit organizationexempt from taxation under § 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code thathas been certified by a locality as actively engaged in producing orpreserving affordable housing as determined by criteria established by thelocality.
"Disabled" means a person suffering from a severe, chronic physical ormental impairment which results in substantial functional limitations.
"Elderly" means a person not less than 62 years of age.
G. The governing body of any county utilizing the urban county executive formof optional government (§§ 15.2-800 through 15.2-858) or the county managerplan of optional government (§§ 15.2-702 through 15.2-749), or of any city ortown adjoining any such county, may require by ordinance that the declarantof any residential condominium converted from multi-family rental use shallreimburse any tenant displaced by the conversion for amounts actuallyexpended to relocate as a result of such dislocation. The reimbursement shallnot be required to exceed the amount which the tenant would have beenentitled to receive under §§ 25.1-407 and 25.1-415 if the real estatecomprising the condominium had been condemned by the Department ofTransportation.
(1974, c. 416; 1975, c. 415; 1980, cc. 727, 738; 1981, cc. 455, 503; 1982,cc. 273, 475, 663; 1983, c. 310; 1984, cc. 321, 601; 1985, c. 69; 1987, c.412; 1988, c. 723; 1989, c. 398; 1991, c. 497; 1993, c. 634; 2007, cc. 602,665.)